House where terrorists planned Mumbai attack traced

Islamabad, Feb 15 (IANS) The house where terrorists who attacked Mumbai planned their operations has been traced in Pakistan’s Sindh province, Geo TV reported Sunday.

Geo showed visuals of the now deserted and unkept house, which one of its investigative reporters said was located in Mirpur Sakro, about 160 km from India’s Gujarat coast.

The compound, with a cluster of small rooms, is reportedly where Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist to be caught in Mumbai, and his associates conspired to attack the Indian city.

Some 170 people were killed in the Nov 26-29 terror frenzy that India blamed on Pakistani terrorists who it said sailed to Mumbai from Karachi. Pakistani authorities have now more or less confirmed India’s version.

Geo TV said there were traces that people had lived in what was once clearly a well furnished quarter.

Newspapers, including those with accounts of the Mumbai attack, were strewn on the floor. There were books on a rack. A large multi-colour world map was pasted on a wall, with Mumbai clearly marked out.

The main room had two cots, blankets and mattresses. One corner had a large number of barrels.

One room had lockers and a small almirah, all of which had apparently been broken open by security personnel. A bunch of keys was lying around.

A photoframe of a small boat hung on a wall.

Mumtaz, a man who claimed to be the caretaker of the compound, told Geo TV that he was paid Rs.15,000 for its use.

He said he had failed to make contact with the previous occupants. “Now their mobile phone does not ring,” he said.